Blee's DECREE
Here we have the Nerf Spectre. Advertised as the ultimate Customizable Stealth Blaster. But does it live up to that title? Kinda. It does come in the box with 2 attachments, a stock and a barrel. But they don’t realistically change too much. The barrel attachment/silencer will reduce range a bit. The stock, while a novel idea, is a bit flimsy. The pistol slide isn’t as comfortable to use as on some other blasters. Ultimately, I’d recommend the Nerf Strongarm over this. It’s faster, more reliable, and most importantly? It’s more available.
Table of Contents
What really stands out about the Nerf Spectre is the fact that it is so customizable, right from the jump. This blaster comes with several Nerf gun attachments included in the box. You’re supposed to switch up and change attachments on the fly. Either adding or removing parts and pieces as the “mission” demands.
The Spectre is another revolver type weapon, with a five-dart rotating cylinder. It starts out as a pistol, but you can add on the included stock to make it more like a sub-machine gun. Or add the stock and the extended barrel/silencer to go into full carbine mode. I really love it when they do stuff like this.
Nerf Spectre Rev-5, N Strike Elite Blaster
The Good
I love the option of dismantling this toy gun and using it in different ways at different times. When you have the option to really customize something, it’s great. It makes the owner of the Nerf blaster feel like they have some real control over how it will perform in battle. The option to customize makes the blaster unique and makes it feel like it’s really yours, if that makes sense.
Nearly all modern Nerf blasters have this functionality built in, it was the whole idea behind the N-Strike series of blasters. That’s an aspect that has been a part of Nerf blaster products for a while now but with the Nerf Spectre, it’s like they’re giving you a little head start and I’m so down for that.
Back to the Nerf Spectre. It looks almost like a slimmer version of the Strongarm when all the Nerf gun attachments are removed. Speaking of the attachments, you aren’t limited to the ones included in the box. It has a Nerf standard barrel attachment lug and stock attachment points, so you can attach many different shoulder stocks and barrels to this weapon.
There is also a tactical rail mount for optical sights or similar items. The Nerf Spectre hits ranges of about 50 ft and is pretty darned accurate, too, for Nerf anyways. To operate this blaster, first you pop the cylinder out to the side and load in the 5 Elite darts. Pop it back in and then pull the pistol slide back and let go. The slide will return to its forward positioning and it is now ready to shoot.
The Bad
Although you can attach other extended barrels, some barrel extensions aren’t fully compatible and will be loose or wobbly. I love the idea of a foldable shoulder stock. I really do. But the included shoulder stock attachment is a tad bit flimsy. Therefore its usefulness is reduced.
Also, the Nerf Spectre has a propensity to jam every so often. I’m not sure if this happens because of the smaller cylinder, but it does happen occasionally. The gun doesn’t jam excessively or enough to be too much of a detriment, though. This blaster’s really just a repaint of the original Nerf Spectre from 2010. The only differences being the Elite-class plunger system and a better color scheme.
The Ugly
The Nerf Spectre Rev 5, N-Strike Elite Blaster is a Walmart exclusive in the United States. I wonder how much these companies are paying Nerf for these exclusive blasters. Oh well. You can see it on Amazon here, Nerf N-Strike Elite Spectre Rev-5 Steal Blaster, but you’ll notice it’s from a 3rd party seller and the price is grossly inflated. The price does fluctuate when dealing with online retailers, though, so I’d definitely check back often.
Mine has the same problem!
The Spectre is notorious for turret jam. As mentioned by Cory, it’s the rotation mechanisms. Try opening it & checking the gears, contact points as well as lubricating it.
I notice that when loading the turret back into the blaster, the hexagon rotating contact point needs to be fully seated – by gentle rocking with the turret until you feel a solid “click”. This way it does minimize jams (it will still happen) & provided the internal rotation mechanisms are okay, it’s really just a poor design & the later models like Strongarm etc use a different type of mechanism.
Still, the Spectre is a sleek design blaster & this manual adjustment helps (though not good for Nerf wars!).
I don’t know who Cory is, but this seems a plausible enough explanation and a nice simple fix for the Nerf Spectre. Thanks for commenting!